a. Field
The instant disclosure relates generally to guiding elements for elongate medical devices used with remote catheter guidance systems (RCGSs), and specifically to a positioner for guiding a catheter during automated use of an RCGS.
b. Background Art
Electrophysiology (EP) catheters are used in a variety of medical procedures, including, for example, diagnostic, therapeutic, mapping and ablative procedures. Catheters are used to correct conditions such as atrial arrhythmia, including for example, ectopic atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, and atrial flutter. Typically, a catheter is manipulated through the patient's vasculature to an intended site, for example, a site within the patient's heart, and carries one or more electrodes, which may be used for mapping, ablation, diagnosis, or other treatments.
Advancing a catheter into a patient and to the intended site generally requires a physician such as an electrophysiologist to physically handle the catheter and move it into the patient. In a conventional approach, an introducer is first inserted through the skin surface at an access site on a patient's body and sutured to the body to prevent motion relative to the patient. The electrophysiologist then inserts a sheath for a catheter, or a catheter alone, into the introducer opening at the access site and threads it through the vasculature to a region of interest. The sheath and/or catheter must be manually guided into the introducer at the access site, which can include a hemostasis valve, at the access point.
Recently, remote catheter guidance systems (RCGS) (or robotically controlled medical device guidance systems) for one or more medical devices have been used to facilitate precision control of a medical device during a procedure. In general, these types of systems carry out (as a mechanical surrogate) input commands of a clinician or other end-user to deploy, navigate, and manipulate one or more medical devices, such as, for example, a catheter and/or an introducer or sheath for a catheter, or some other elongate medical instrument. One exemplary remote catheter system is described and depicted in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/347,811 (published as United States patent application publication no. US 2009/0247993 A1) the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
A conventional RCGS typically includes, among other components, a manipulator assembly and one or more medical device cartridges. Each medical device cartridge has a medical device (e.g., a catheter or sheath) coupled therewith, and is configured to be mounted on, or attached to, a corresponding manipulation base of the manipulator assembly. When a medical device cartridge is attached to the manipulation base, the manipulator assembly is configured to maneuver the medical device associated with the medical device cartridge by, for example, translating the device cartridge back and forth in a linear fashion.
In addition to the increased precision control, another benefit of an RCGS is that an electrophysiologist or other end-user can operate the manipulation of a catheter through an input control system while having access to a visualization system that displays, for example, the location of the catheter. Such control system and visualization system can be located at the patient site or at a remote location.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate the present field and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.